We reached out to Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer, and his office told us that he was still evaluating the plan.

Today however Mr. Stringer told us that he is generally supportive of the proposal.

“I am very supportive of the mayor taking on the soda cartel,” he said. “We have to go out and win this battle.”

“You can’t have our children wobble into a candy store and drink down this stuff and think we are going to create a healthy city,” he added. “And I think that when McDonald’s criticizes the mayor, that is a badge of honor.”

Mr. Stringer didn’t go so far as to endorse the mayor’s ban outright, or to pledge that he will enact it if he were elected mayor. Instead, he praised the mayor for “raising the issue,” and added that it should be part of a broader effort to bring in more stakeholders and community leaders to teach kids and adults the dangers of too much consumption of junk food.

“I don’t think you can say simply my way or the highway because you won’t get a lasting result,” he said. “But as an elected official you’ve got to put this out there so that we can talk about it. And maybe we are not ready for clearing the shelve yet but let’s challenge the lobbyists on the other side of these issues who have no problem with getting this discredited before we can even put this before the public.”

Mr. Stringer has been one of the mayor’s foremost critics, so it is somewhat surprising that he has taken on this issue to sidle up alongside Mr. Bloomberg, considering that it seems to have mostly bombed among the public.

And, Mr. Stringer had some choice words for his likely 2013 opponents who came out against it immediately after the ban was announced.

“No one should be against it unless they are willing to offer real alternatives. And not just the basic knee jerk ‘No.’